Which books do you consider necessary for understanding racism and discrimination in the Americas?

[Cait]

Thewheelbarrow came all the way down off the high of reading Barack Obama's A Promised Land with Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law. "It was not the actions of people or institutions acting with prejudice but instead the laws passed, from the national to the local levels, which encouraged discrimination." (Cannonball Read 13)

[Robert]

Ibram X Kendi's "Stamped from the Beginning" and "How to be an Anti-racist" are both essential reading imo. Especially the latter, going deeper into all racism and discrimination (race, gender, sexual orientation, skin lightness, etc) and why no prejudice can be allowed.